Latest / Arroe Collins Like It's Live / Wicked, Hamilton Broadway Atlanta The World Mandy Gonzalez
Transcript
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- 0:28Speaker 1: How are you Mandy?
- 0:29Speaker 2: I WHOA, how are you doing?
- 0:31Speaker 1: I'm doing fantastic. I love your energy this early in
- 0:34Speaker 1: the morning. That means that you understand the power of creativity.
- 0:39Speaker 3: Absolutely and a little bit of coffee.
- 0:42Speaker 1: Oh even better. Hey, yes, congratulations on what you are
- 0:47Speaker 1: doing here, because this is what I love about music
- 0:50Speaker 1: when an artist will step in and say, by the way,
- 0:53Speaker 1: here is this performer and I want you to see
- 0:56Speaker 1: a different side of the writing abilities and capability and
- 1:00Speaker 1: the outreach of it all. And I just love what
- 1:02Speaker 1: you're doing here.
- 1:04Speaker 3: Thank you.
- 1:04Speaker 2: I appreciate that.
- 1:06Speaker 3: I'm I'm having a fantastic time now.
- 1:10Speaker 1: To get to that point though, that's the part that
- 1:12Speaker 1: listeners don't understand anymore because we just go to a
- 1:15Speaker 1: streaming outlet or we hit chat GPT, but we don't
- 1:18Speaker 1: understand the process of how this even came into being.
- 1:23Speaker 3: Yeah, so this kind of starts. A new musical takes
- 1:27Speaker 3: a long time to put together. Some people don't realize
- 1:32Speaker 3: that it takes years. And I think I started with
- 1:35Speaker 3: this project Basura a couple of years ago and I
- 1:40Speaker 3: got the call from the orchestrator and music supervisor Alex Lackimore,
- 1:46Speaker 3: and he said, you know, we're putting together this piece
- 1:49Speaker 3: and it's written by Gloria and Emily Stefan and Michael
- 1:53Speaker 3: Grive's going to be directing. We're not sure what your
- 1:56Speaker 3: character is yet, but would you want to be in
- 1:59Speaker 3: the room. And I immediately said yes because of the
- 2:06Speaker 3: creative team automatically off the bat, and then also the
- 2:09Speaker 3: subject matter and I knew I had worked with Alex
- 2:13Speaker 3: before in The Heights and then in Hamilton, and I
- 2:18Speaker 3: knew it was going to be something special. And when
- 2:21Speaker 3: I heard the story about Basura and I watched the documentary.
- 2:26Speaker 3: You know, this story is about these young people that
- 2:30Speaker 3: grow up on a landfill and this teacher, this music teacher,
- 2:35Speaker 3: comes to their area and he starts to teach them
- 2:38Speaker 3: the violin and these kids fall in love with music.
- 2:42Speaker 3: These kids don't have a lot of have a lot,
- 2:45Speaker 3: you know, of material things, and they fall in love
- 2:48Speaker 3: with music. And the instruments get stolen and the community
- 2:52Speaker 3: sees the joy that the music brings, and they come
- 2:55Speaker 3: together and they start to build these instruments for these
- 2:59Speaker 3: students out of things that they find in the landfill,
- 3:03Speaker 3: repurpose things. So there are violins built out of tin
- 3:07Speaker 3: and forks and pretty much anything and everything that you
- 3:13Speaker 3: can think of. And when I met the teacher, the
- 3:16Speaker 3: teacher in person here in Atlanta, Favio, he said, just
- 3:20Speaker 3: because you have nothing doesn't mean you can't do something.
- 3:23Speaker 3: And I think that's a story that resonates with everyone.
- 3:28Speaker 3: And I play the main character, Panambie. I play her mother, Monica,
- 3:34Speaker 3: and together you get to see our journey throughout this story,
- 3:41Speaker 3: and her journey with music and my journey in letting go,
- 3:45Speaker 3: and it's just really it's a beautiful story about community,
- 3:49Speaker 3: about family, about sacrifice, and about hope.
- 3:52Speaker 1: You know what, I got to tell you something, and
- 3:54Speaker 1: kudos to everybody that has put this project together, because
- 3:57Speaker 1: what you said about that landfill is exactly the truth,
- 4:00Speaker 1: because that's where I learned the different sounds of a
- 4:03Speaker 1: box and that became my drum set. That's where I
- 4:05Speaker 1: learned how to play. Oh my God, I got so
- 4:08Speaker 1: much from the landfill because that's where the music instruments are.
- 4:12Speaker 1: And I think that's my attachment to why I still
- 4:14Speaker 1: love dirt and the forest floor where I am right now,
- 4:17Speaker 1: because I believe that it is so giving and anybody
- 4:20Speaker 1: who finds an instrument at a landfill, that instrument is
- 4:24Speaker 1: coming from the soul of this planet.
- 4:28Speaker 3: Absolutely, and I think it makes you look at things
- 4:32Speaker 3: that you throw away a lot differently, but it is
- 4:35Speaker 3: a metaphor of what it is that we throw away,
- 4:37Speaker 3: whether it's our hope or our people in our community
- 4:44Speaker 3: that we love. It makes you take a look at
- 4:47Speaker 3: all of that, and I think it's a show really
- 4:50Speaker 3: for everybody, but especially for families.
- 4:54Speaker 1: I love the way that you use the word hope,
- 4:56Speaker 1: because today on iHeartRadio, there's going to be a story
- 4:58Speaker 1: that I put up there that's all hope. And what
- 5:01Speaker 1: I do is I compare hope like you talk about
- 5:03Speaker 1: versus selfish hope. And so I love the fact that
- 5:06Speaker 1: you're very much into the fact that, yes, there is
- 5:09Speaker 1: such a thing as hope, and it doesn't because what
- 5:11Speaker 1: you're doing you're outreaching. I mean, you're giving people the
- 5:14Speaker 1: opportunity to escape their personal worlds. You're up on that
- 5:17Speaker 1: stage because you've been called to be to that stage.
- 5:21Speaker 3: Absolutely. I think that when I started in this business
- 5:24Speaker 3: just a few years ago, no, about twenty five years ago,
- 5:29Speaker 3: you know, when I wanted to do what I do,
- 5:32Speaker 3: I really wanted to tell stories that that would change
- 5:36Speaker 3: the world. You know, That's how I put it in
- 5:39Speaker 3: my younger days. And I feel so blessed to have
- 5:42Speaker 3: been able to do that. And I feel like this
- 5:45Speaker 3: story is so important and it does change how you
- 5:49Speaker 3: think about things when you leave the theater. It does
- 5:52Speaker 3: make you feel like anything and everything is possible, and
- 5:55Speaker 3: that maybe you don't play an instrument, maybe you don't
- 6:00Speaker 3: have that musical ability, but you can do something. And
- 6:03Speaker 3: I think that the story on that stage should inspire
- 6:08Speaker 3: you to just feel like anything's possible.
- 6:10Speaker 1: Please do not move. We'll be right back with Mandy Gonzalez.
- 6:14Speaker 1: Thank you so much for coming back to the conversation.
- 6:16Speaker 1: Let's get back into it with Mandy Gonzalez. You brought
- 6:19Speaker 1: up the name Gloria Estefan I mean, look at what
- 6:21Speaker 1: she did in the nineteen eighty she changed the whole
- 6:25Speaker 1: course of music in this nation with her husband Emilio
- 6:28Speaker 1: and just a really and today today to see her
- 6:31Speaker 1: still doing it, that's exactly what I'm hoping that she
- 6:35Speaker 1: plans inside the hearts of anybody who comes in contact
- 6:38Speaker 1: with her musical aspirations.
- 6:40Speaker 3: Absolutely, I think she is one of my biggest inspirations
- 6:46Speaker 3: growing up as a Latina. And to hear her and
- 6:50Speaker 3: to see her push herself as an artist, and to
- 6:54Speaker 3: work with Emily as Stefan, who is yes, an incredible talent,
- 6:59Speaker 3: and to see them work together and how they bring
- 7:01Speaker 3: out the best in one another to create this musical,
- 7:06Speaker 3: you know, like literally from from nothing, from scraps, you know.
- 7:12Speaker 3: And and I think what they have put together is
- 7:16Speaker 3: just a labor of love. And I think it's a
- 7:18Speaker 3: testament to their talent and also their relationship and yeah,
- 7:25Speaker 3: and the community that they want to serve. I'm glad.
- 7:28Speaker 1: I'm glad that you're bringing this up in a huge way.
- 7:30Speaker 1: That because we are the AI generation and I don't
- 7:33Speaker 1: know anybody who hasn't put their little vocals inside you know,
- 7:36Speaker 1: chat GPT or rock or anything like that, and then
- 7:39Speaker 1: forty five seconds later they've got a song. That's not
- 7:41Speaker 1: how you do music. And you're right, And I love
- 7:43Speaker 1: the idea that you are so strong insane it can
- 7:46Speaker 1: and it will take time. Because I've been in the studio.
- 7:49Speaker 1: I know what it takes. I know what it's like
- 7:51Speaker 1: to hire an outside musician or you know, and it's
- 7:54Speaker 1: just one of those things where you've got you've got
- 7:55Speaker 1: to piece it together and when it doesn't work out, okay,
- 7:58Speaker 1: let's figure out a solution.
- 8:00Speaker 3: And then right, I think there's nothing being a creative.
- 8:05Speaker 3: There is nothing like creating something and seeing it come together.
- 8:09Speaker 2: Oh my god, you know.
- 8:10Speaker 3: And that's what I absolutely love about theater is that
- 8:13Speaker 3: you can't do it alone. Theater takes a whole community
- 8:18Speaker 3: to put a show on every night. You know, it's
- 8:21Speaker 3: the people backstage, it's the tech, it's the stage manager,
- 8:25Speaker 3: it's the company management. It's the people selling tickets. It's
- 8:29Speaker 3: the lighting, the sound, and the other actors that are
- 8:32Speaker 3: with you. So I think that theater is one of
- 8:38Speaker 3: my favorite communities because we know that we need each other.
- 8:41Speaker 1: Well, you're talking about that community. Were you just recently
- 8:44Speaker 1: in Greensboro and you worked with another part of that community,
- 8:47Speaker 1: which was the actual symphony from that city. How in
- 8:50Speaker 1: God's name can you do that? These are people you've
- 8:52Speaker 1: never worked before with and all of a sudden you've
- 8:54Speaker 1: got to make it happen on that live stage.
- 8:58Speaker 3: You know. Is so it's thrilling because you get one day,
- 9:05Speaker 3: you get one rehearsal, one rehearsal, and then you're on.
- 9:08Speaker 3: But when I put together the show of my dear
- 9:13Speaker 3: friend lin Manuel Miranda's music, part of my putting that
- 9:17Speaker 3: together that concert was that I wanted to travel all
- 9:20Speaker 3: around the world and introduce people to his music, introduce
- 9:24Speaker 3: people to things that maybe they haven't heard, or things
- 9:26Speaker 3: that they have heard that they want to hear with
- 9:29Speaker 3: a full orchestra. And so for me, it's just completely exciting.
- 9:35Speaker 3: And I love going places. I love traveling, I love
- 9:39Speaker 3: meeting new people.
- 9:40Speaker 2: I love it is.
- 9:42Speaker 3: A collaboration, you know, when you are with a symphony,
- 9:45Speaker 3: it's like okay, you know you have to look at
- 9:47Speaker 3: that conductor and go here we go. But you have
- 9:50Speaker 3: to put your faith in your trust in the music.
- 9:53Speaker 3: And I hope with my concerts that, as I've noticed,
- 9:58Speaker 3: it starts to bring u so many new people to
- 10:01Speaker 3: the symphony, because a symphony really is for everybody. And
- 10:06Speaker 3: if that's their way of first coming to the symphony
- 10:09Speaker 3: and then going, oh I really love this experience. I
- 10:11Speaker 3: want to go back, or I want to be a subscriber,
- 10:13Speaker 3: and and that kind of thing. I just love that. Well.
- 10:15Speaker 1: I love what symphonies are doing because just our Charlotte
- 10:18Speaker 1: Symphony here just recently had it where they went to
- 10:20Speaker 1: Myers Pike Park High School and somebody that I work with,
- 10:23Speaker 1: you know, he says he has a love for music.
- 10:25Speaker 1: But when I saw him up there as the conductor,
- 10:27Speaker 1: Oh no, that's not a love for music. That is
- 10:29Speaker 1: a passion. That is something that you are briefing. And
- 10:32Speaker 1: to see him in that position just totally blew me away.
- 10:35Speaker 1: Because they're giving these these high school students the opportunity
- 10:39Speaker 1: to feel the symphony, not just listen to it, to
- 10:43Speaker 1: feel it right.
- 10:45Speaker 3: And you know, there's nothing like a full orchestra. You
- 10:50Speaker 3: get to hear in vasura. You get to hear this
- 10:54Speaker 3: incredible orchestra on the stage and and the you know,
- 10:58Speaker 3: the students on the stage are taking about playing these instruments,
- 11:02Speaker 3: and you get to really see it and feel it.
- 11:05Speaker 3: And hear it come alive.
- 11:07Speaker 2: And that's really.
- 11:09Speaker 3: What music does. And when you are at the symphony,
- 11:13Speaker 3: no matter where it is, you can't help but be
- 11:16Speaker 3: moved by it.
- 11:17Speaker 1: What is it like for you though, because I mean,
- 11:18Speaker 1: I'm sure you're like the rest of us in the
- 11:20Speaker 1: creative world with that live performance. Your vocal cords are
- 11:23Speaker 1: so important. You can't go to live events such as
- 11:26Speaker 1: concerts or football games or even basketball games, can you?
- 11:29Speaker 1: Because because I'm telling you, because if you injure those
- 11:31Speaker 1: vocal cords, that's a job that you could be losing.
- 11:36Speaker 3: Absolutely, you know. I think what I do is if
- 11:41Speaker 3: I do have to have a performance or something like that,
- 11:43Speaker 3: and I want to go to a concert or cause
- 11:47Speaker 3: who doesn't, I just have to remind myself not to scream.
- 11:51Speaker 1: And or amusement park.
- 11:52Speaker 3: You know. I have a fourteen year old, so she
- 11:55Speaker 3: likes to go to six Flags and all of those things.
- 11:57Speaker 3: So I just have to remind myself, Okay, you can,
- 12:01Speaker 3: they can scream, but you have to be quiet. And
- 12:03Speaker 3: that's just you know, it's a it's a push and pull.
- 12:06Speaker 1: I would love to see your tech and what they
- 12:09Speaker 1: do with your mic system because and the reason why
- 12:11Speaker 1: is because a lot of people don't understand what kind
- 12:14Speaker 1: of professionalism that goes into just a microphone when you're
- 12:18Speaker 1: on that live stage, because I mean, if they stress
- 12:21Speaker 1: out your voice in the middle of the performance, oh
- 12:23Speaker 1: my god, I would just love to see your control board.
- 12:27Speaker 3: Oh absolutely. You know, when I started in New York,
- 12:32Speaker 3: we used to have auditions on the stage, So if
- 12:35Speaker 3: you made it to a certain point, then you could
- 12:38Speaker 3: audition on a Broadway stage in front of the director
- 12:42Speaker 3: and all the producers and things like that, and you
- 12:44Speaker 3: really got to without a microphone, so you really got
- 12:47Speaker 3: to feel what your sound was like, you know, other
- 12:50Speaker 3: than when you're practicing in a studio or something like that.
- 12:54Speaker 1: When you're doing a song from Lynn Manuel, the thing
- 12:57Speaker 1: is is that, I mean you've got to You've got
- 12:58Speaker 1: to participate with those echoes inside that room too. I mean,
- 13:01Speaker 1: if you're traveling all over the world with this man's music,
- 13:04Speaker 1: every auditorium has its own ghost and echo.
- 13:08Speaker 3: Absolutely absolutely, I mean that's like the joy of it.
- 13:12Speaker 1: Yeah, that's another part of the thrill.
- 13:15Speaker 3: Is like what is it going to sound like? And
- 13:17Speaker 3: what is this home that I'm that I've been invited to?
- 13:20Speaker 3: You know, it's I'm a guest I'm a guest artist
- 13:23Speaker 3: in this place, and I have to, you know, take
- 13:25Speaker 3: it in for what it is, and it's never going
- 13:28Speaker 3: to sound the same. It's never going to sound And
- 13:31Speaker 3: I tell people that young, especially young performers that are
- 13:34Speaker 3: starting and doing eight shows a week for the first time,
- 13:37Speaker 3: or traveling and doing a concert.
- 13:39Speaker 2: I just tell them like, it's it's never the same,
- 13:42Speaker 2: and you have to be okay with that. You have
- 13:44Speaker 2: to be okay with the ebb and flow of your
- 13:46Speaker 2: voice and the ebb and flows of different theaters and
- 13:49Speaker 2: the sounds.
- 13:50Speaker 3: And things like that. That's that's part of the thrill,
- 13:53Speaker 3: that's part of the thing that it's never it's never stagnant.
- 13:57Speaker 1: You're so inspirational into the into the worlds of those
- 14:01Speaker 1: that are sitting in their offices right now or at
- 14:03Speaker 1: home and they're they're hiding I always call it hiders
- 14:06Speaker 1: in the way they're hiding their musical abilities because they're
- 14:09Speaker 1: so afraid of stepping out. And it's gonna take people
- 14:11Speaker 1: like yourself, with all the people that you've met, to
- 14:14Speaker 1: be able to have that energy to say step out.
- 14:17Speaker 1: Make a mistake.
- 14:18Speaker 3: Absolutely, absolutely, yes, Sometimes it just It takes one person
- 14:25Speaker 3: to say, hey, you can do it. You know. For
- 14:28Speaker 3: me that was my grandmother at a very young age.
- 14:31Speaker 3: But for somebody else it can be hey, let's go
- 14:33Speaker 3: to karaoke, Let's go do this tonight.
- 14:36Speaker 1: To express yourself.
- 14:37Speaker 3: Through music, I think is an important thing for everybody.
- 14:40Speaker 3: Whether you're on key, whether you're not on key, You're
- 14:43Speaker 3: going to learn. You're going to learn as you go,
- 14:45Speaker 3: because that's just how it is, you know. It's a
- 14:48Speaker 3: part of the sound, is a part of the universe,
- 14:51Speaker 3: you know. And I think if you're singing in the
- 14:54Speaker 3: shower and you feel like, man, I love to get
- 14:55Speaker 3: up on a stage, but I feel so afraid. Just
- 14:58Speaker 3: know that everybody's afraid. It never goes away.
- 15:03Speaker 1: I sing pretty good the National Anthem when I'm in
- 15:05Speaker 1: the shower, but by God, when I get out, I
- 15:07Speaker 1: think I'm gonna try. I'm gonna try so I can
- 15:08Speaker 1: sing at the coliseum. No, I am not going to try.
- 15:11Speaker 3: Well, it's the hardest song I think for any singer.
- 15:15Speaker 3: I think the National Anthem is like the hardest song,
- 15:18Speaker 3: just the octaves and then you know, making sure that
- 15:22Speaker 3: you know the words and you're not getting nervous and
- 15:25Speaker 3: messing up the words and you know it's uh. I
- 15:28Speaker 3: think that's the hardest song to sing for any singer.
- 15:30Speaker 1: Wow. Where can people go to find out more about
- 15:33Speaker 1: everything you're doing? Because you are so giving of your art?
- 15:37Speaker 3: Oh, thank you. If you want to check out what
- 15:40Speaker 3: I'm doing, please go to Mandy Gonzales dot com or
- 15:43Speaker 3: check me out on Instagram at Mandy dot Gonzales Gonzalez
- 15:48Speaker 3: with two zi's. So yeah, hopefully I can see some
- 15:52Speaker 3: of your listeners at some of my shows.
- 15:54Speaker 1: So did you say that you're down there in the
- 15:55Speaker 1: Atlanta area right now? I am? I am.
- 15:59Speaker 3: I'm at the Alliance Theater. Yeah. I'll be here until
- 16:02Speaker 3: mid July with the show Basua, written by Glorian Emilia Stefan,
- 16:08Speaker 3: a book by Karen Zacharias and directed by Michael Griffe
- 16:12Speaker 3: and music supervising by Alex Lackimore, choreography by Batisia Delgado.
- 16:18Speaker 1: Somehow, some way, You've got to get over there to
- 16:19Speaker 1: Spaghetti Junction, because that, to me is the ultimate place
- 16:22Speaker 1: for all creative people because it buys you time to
- 16:25Speaker 1: have a loneliness to where something creative could come to you,
- 16:29Speaker 1: or where you could sit there and practice, and note
- 16:30Speaker 1: that you've struggled with it. You're so cut off from
- 16:33Speaker 1: the rest of the world as spaghetti Junction that it
- 16:35Speaker 1: just to me. I just think it's a paradise for
- 16:37Speaker 1: all creative people.
- 16:39Speaker 3: Ooh, I'm gonna check it out. That sounds amazing.
- 16:41Speaker 1: So of course people are gonna say he's talking about
- 16:43Speaker 1: the traffic. They've got bad traffic in Atlanta. But so
- 16:46Speaker 1: what you're in the best studio in the world. Which
- 16:49Speaker 1: is your car?
- 16:49Speaker 3: I don't have a car.
- 16:50Speaker 1: I don't have a car.
- 16:51Speaker 3: Well, I'm here in Atlanta, so I am living on
- 16:54Speaker 3: the Marta.
- 16:54Speaker 1: Oh my no, I'm on the bus.
- 16:57Speaker 3: You will see me walking. I am getting my steps
- 17:00Speaker 3: in here in Atlanta.
- 17:02Speaker 1: So when you say you're on the Marta, did you
- 17:03Speaker 1: go down to five Star to see where everything is
- 17:05Speaker 1: then where everything goes in all the difference?
- 17:07Speaker 3: Yeah?
- 17:07Speaker 1: Oh my god, Oh.
- 17:08Speaker 2: Yeah, I've been everywhere.
- 17:09Speaker 3: I've been to Buckhead. I have taken you know, wherever
- 17:13Speaker 3: I go. If there is public transportation, I'm on it
- 17:16Speaker 3: since New York because I'd like to get my bearings.
- 17:19Speaker 3: If I don't have my car, I want to know
- 17:21Speaker 3: where I am in case I get lost or there's
- 17:24Speaker 3: an emergency, I want to know where to go.
- 17:26Speaker 1: So the Marta has been you know, it's been great.
- 17:31Speaker 3: It's right around the corner.
- 17:33Speaker 2: Lets you off right at the theater.
- 17:34Speaker 1: Ah, that's even better. I love it when a train
- 17:37Speaker 1: is that programmed.
- 17:38Speaker 3: Man. Yeah, So if you want to go out for
- 17:40Speaker 3: dinner with your family, have a drink, and then head
- 17:44Speaker 3: on the Marta and go to the Arts Center, we
- 17:47Speaker 3: are right outside those doors the Alliance Theater.
- 17:49Speaker 1: And they can go to get the schedule for the
- 17:51Speaker 1: entire performance, right because you love to travel this country
- 17:54Speaker 1: and I really want people to take this in and
- 17:56Speaker 1: go through the entire experience.
- 17:59Speaker 3: Absolutely, absolutely, Wow.
- 18:02Speaker 1: You gotta come back to this show anytime in the future.
- 18:04Speaker 1: The door is always going to be open for you.
- 18:07Speaker 3: I would love it. I would love it, and I'll
- 18:10Speaker 3: I'd love to meet you in person and maybe one.
- 18:13Speaker 1: Day, absolutely you'd be brilliant today. Okay, thank you so much,
- 18:17Speaker 1: you too,